FROM THIS EPISODE

South Los Angeles is a neighborhood with many liquor stores and fast food outlets but very few grocery stores. In this era of healthy-food consciousness, some residents have planted fruit trees and vegetables in the city-owned strips across the sidewalks from their front yards. They share the bounty with hungry neighbors—so why are they in court fighting city orders to cease and desist? Eight women have now come forward to report sexual harassment by San Diego’s new, Democratic Mayor Bob Filner. Both California’s Democratic US Senators have called on him to resign--along with a host of other party officials and a unanimous city council. But he’s still refusing to go—and he’s in a spat with the council over who should pay for what he concedes is a “mess.”

Eight women have now come forward to report sexual harassment by San Diego's new, Democratic Mayor, Bob Filner. Both California's Democratic US Senators have called on him to resign, along with a host of other party officials and a unanimous city council. But he's still refusing to go — and he's in a spat with the council over who should pay for what he concedes is a "mess."

Two years ago, LA Times columnist Steve Lopez reported on Ron Finley, a resident of South Los Angeles. In what’s often called a healthy-food “desert,” Finley had planted a vegetable garden for himself and his hungry neighbors. But the food was growing on the city-owned strip of land between the street and the sidewalk, and Finley was ordered to cease and desist. City Council President Herb Wesson promised to change the anti-food law. Now—two years later—Lopez finds that nothing has changed.